Universities assume challenge of educating entrepreneurs

(La Paz, May 23, 2012).- CAF –development bank of Latin America– hosted at its La Paz auditorium a forum entitled Enterprising Bolivia: universities’ role and capacity for developing entrepreneurs, which it organized in partnership with the local Maya Foundation. The event was the first in a series of regional forums on international entrepreneurship experiences.

Speakers at the forum included CAF Development and Public Policy Strategies executive Marco Kamiya, who discussed the entrepreneurship environment in Bolivia; Maya Foundation president Jorge Velasco, who spoke about the local experience with an entrepreneurship online course; Venezuela’s Ideas Foundation Head Manager María Luisa Parra, who talked about entrepreneurship curriculums in Venezuelan universities; and Adrian Magendzo, director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Master’s program at Adolfo Ibáñez University, Chile, who spoke about public policy recommendations and universities’ role.

Relevant data

The forum was an opportunity to learn about the current state of enterpreneurship in Bolivia and the region. According to the international study Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), Bolivia has a 38,6% rate of early stage entrepreneurial activity, higher than Chile’s (23,7%), Peru’s (22,9%) and Colombia’s (21,4%).

This entrepreneurship culture can be promoted by strengthening the innovation system, creating alliances between universities and the private sector, and improving financing coverage throughout every stage of entrepreneurial development.

In order for the entrepreneurship “ecosystem” to achieve optimal state, experts at the forum said, three components have to be perfected: innovation, marketing and financing. In other words, the entrepreneurship culture has to be promoted; financing must be improved in the early stages, and there needs to be an institutional framework for innovation.

Other GEM data indicate that in Bolivia 84% of early stage startups lack innovative offers (only 0.9% feature new technologies); 60% of them are in the service sector; and only 20% export their products.

Working group results

Following the forum’s conclusion, participants gathered around five working groups that analyzed the following topics: entrepreneur education and preparation cases; employment quality and entrepreneurship promotion; entrepreneurial culture creation; entrepreneur education promotion, and labor market orientation.

Among the main recommendations was “parting with the traditional educational mindset, as the Bolivian university’s role is critical for economic development, educators’ preparation and the creation of entrepreneurial education programs.”

The business sector working group’s proposals included promoting an innovation center with the creation of seed capital with contributions from enterprises, which in turn could get tax incentives for their donations.

Another recommendation was that universities work in a more coordinated manner on this issue, adding subjects that respond to entrepreneurs and innovators’ needs. The inclusion of entrepreneurship in the curriculum was also proposed, not only in university careers but also in elementary schools to encourage the education of innovative students.

The central and municipal government sector identified two key points in entrepreneurship promotion: the formulation of national, regional and municipal programs and projects that include research and innovation; and the creation of information systems to coordinate work on three levels (university-government-business), identifying regional potentials and needs, and promoting projects and programs linked to entrepreneurship.

Participants also stressed the importance of joint efforts by the government, businessmen and international agencies in order to promote the entepreneurial culture, the capacity for innovation and boost financing capital for new enterprises.

Regional Series Enterprising Bolivia: universities’ role and their enterprising capacity, an international forum held in La Paz, was the first in a series of regional forums organized by CAF with the goal of promoting entrepreneurship development in all its stages. The other forums will take place between May and November in Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. They will be centered on public policies, financing, training and corporate entrepreneurship. As in Bolivia, local counterparts in each country will support CAF.